Five conclusions as Barcelona batter Real Madrid in one-sided Clásico | OneFootball

Barcelona added to Real Madrid’s woes on Sunday as they completely dismantled Julen Lopetegui’s men in a 5-1 hammering.

Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring before Luis Suárez netted a quite brilliant hat-trick and Artuto Vidal completed the rout in the dying moments.

Here are five things we learned from a pulsating match at Camp Nou.

Julen Lopetegui is a dead man walking

We’ve known for some weeks now that Julen Lopetegui was a dead man walking at Real Madrid, but this result – and this performance – is surely the nail in his woefully-out-of-depth-coffin.

It’s not an overreaction to say that this was Los Blancos’ worst performance since the Rafa Benítez era. Maybe in any era. This was a team full of world class stars, playing as if they were turning out at Soccer Aid. We half expected Robbie Williams to come on for Luka Modrić on the hour mark.

The coach, with a pained expression on his face for the entire match, set up the reigning European champions up not to lose, and saw that tactic blown away inside 10 minutes.

Their 4-5-1 formation without the ball was reactive rather than proactive and not befitting a club who have come off the back of three straight Champions Leagues. That changed at half-time with the capital club going to a 3-5-2, but although that helped offensively, at the back they were leakier than an abandoned water park.

The players of course have to take some of the responsibility,  but if ever proof was needed that the squad aren’t playing for their coach, this was it.

Arthur a class apart

You don’t take Andrès Iniesta’s old shirt number without having some confidence, but in his first Clásico, Arthur showed everyone at Camp Nou that there’s no need to mourn the former maestro’s exit.

Signed from Grêmio over the summer, there were some suggestion before the campaign started that the Blaugrana were making a mistake in using one of their invaluable non-EU slots on a midfielder who’s never played in Europe before.

The 22-year-old however, has made a mockery of those cries and proved on Sunday that he belongs at the very highest level.

Alongside Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitić, Arthur was phenomenal on the ball and dictated the tempo without ever looking flustered or struggling for space.

This lad really has got it all.

Varane curses VAR

With not one Real Madrid player covering themselves in glory at Camp Nou, it may be harsh to single out Raphaël Varane – but there’s good reason after his performance here.

The French defender is clearly struggling with the effects of a long season last time out and going all the way at this summer’s World Cup. Its manifesting itself through his lack of pace when tracking back, but more worryingly, it’s clouding Varane mentally as well.

His decision-making on Sunday was dreadful, and it was no surprise to see him take out Luis Suárez for a stupid penalty and then be hooked by Lopetegui at half-time.

He’s been directly responsible for four of the last six goals Real Madrid have conceded and he needs to be taken out of the firing line for his own good.

Luis Suárez rolls back the years

For a fixture filled with such quality over the past few seasons, it amazed us to learn that Luis Suárez was the first player to score a hat-trick in the Clásico since 2014.

He’s endured a difficult start to the campaign after coming back late from the World Cup and suffering with weight issues in the opening weeks.

The Uruguayan has been inconsistent to say the least, but without Lionel Messi here, the veteran goalscorer was brilliant. Suárez put in a proper centre-forward’s display – holding up the ball, bullying Sergio Ramos and just generally causing mayhem whenever he got the ball.

His first, a penalty, was tucked away brilliantly passed a fully out-stretched Thibaut Courtois whilst the second was one of the best headers you’ll see this season. The third, and final goal, owed much to Ramos’ dreadful mistake, but the dinked finish over the goalkeeper was composure personified.

This is the Luis Suárez we remember. This is the Luis Suárez that can lead Barcelona to domestic and European glory come may.

El Clásico is still the best game in European football

It’s been 3962 days since the last El Clásico without Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Julio Baptista scored the only goal of the game as Fabio Capello’s Real Madrid beat Barcelona at Camp Nou.

Fast forward 11 years, and it’s finally happened. The first Clásico without the world’s two best players took place on Sunday, and what a game it was. It perhaps lacked the quality of matches in the Pep/José era but this was an exhilarating, end-to-end encounter, with chances galore, incident aplenty and an atmosphere to match any.

These are two of European football’s grandest clubs, and it’s good to know that the spectacle will survive even without two of history’s greatest.